Horsemeat ‘may have been in food system for 3 years’

Horsemeat may have been in the food system and passed off as beef for up to three years, according to the head of the country’s food safety watchdog.

Alan Reilly, chief executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), said although the first definitive test showing horsemeat contamination in a beef burger had occurred in Apr 2012, it was his “suspicion that it had been going on for two-and-a-half to three years” before that under the noses of all of Europe’s food safety watchdogs.

Prof Reilly said the authority had been using DNA testing on meat since 2005, but decided seven years later to see if people were “cheating” by passing off horsemeat for more expensive meats and making vast profits for themselves.